Togo’s phosphate rock production increased by 6% in 2022, reaching 1.54 million mt, while sales rose by 14% to 1.58 million mt, up from 1.39 million mt, according to a report by Togo First, citing figures released by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).
According to the report, the volume sold last year was the highest since 1999. The growth was spurred by several initiatives launched by Togo’s government to revive its phosphate mining industry, as well as increased global phosphate prices.
The government also wants to bolster the phosphate value chain by processing ores locally, an ambition launched in 2015. In line with this goal, the country’s Agriculture Ministry in late May signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with OCP Africa SA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OCP Group SA, under which the Moroccan company will launch a feasibility study for developing a phosphate-based fertilizer plant in Togo (GM June 9, p. 28).
Initial plans by Lomé to establish a 1.3 million mt/y DAP/MAP/TSP plant in 2015 were never realized (GM Sept. 14, 2015). That project involved a privately-held holding company owned by Israeli businessman Jacob Engel, as well as China’s Wengfu as strategic partners.
Similarly, an agreement reached between Togo and Nigeria’s Dangote Industries in late 2019 also failed to progress. That plan called for Dangote to invest $2 billion in a project to mine an estimated 2 billion mt of phosphate rock for processing into as much as 1 million mt/y of fertilizer at a new complex in Lagos (GM Nov. 8, 2019).
However, an NPK fertilizer blending plant, Togo’s first such facility, is scheduled to start production soon. That plant, located in the Adétikopé Industrial Platform in the northern suburbs of the Togolese capital, belongs to Singapore-based manufacturer and farm inputs supplier Nutrisource Pte. Ltd. and is projected to reach a capacity of 200,000 mt/y (GM March 3, p. 28).